The dried cranberry orange muffin recipe has the tanginess of the cranberries with the zest of the orange. It combines two amazing flavors into one wonderful muffin recipe.
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Desperate for Something Different
I love making muffins for my family, freezing them, and letting them enjoy them for a quick, delicious breakfast. Most muffins I have been baking were applesauce oatmeal, chocolate chip, and blueberry muffins. Craisins are something I usually have on hand, as I love to put them in my salads, so I developed this recipe for cranberry orange muffins.
This recipe is not your bland old fruit muffin. This has a cranberry tang with the acidic sweetness of the orange juice and zest. The combination makes a lively flavor for your tastebuds.
The fruit combination in these muffins makes for a great breakfast. Not too heavy and pairs great with coffee in the morning.
Muffin Pan and Liners
I have tried doing muffins with and without paper liners. The difference is pretty substantial. If you do not use liners, you must spray cooking spray to coat the muffin pan. This will allow them to release from the pan when fully cooked. Baking them without paper liners will give you a golden outer crust. If this is preferable to you, then it will work great. It would be best to remember to coat them with cooking spray before adding the muffin batter.
Baking with paper liners allows easy cleanup and a super easy release from the pan. The muffin will not get the golden crust on the bottom this way. Some prefer this method. I usually do this for ease of cleanup. However, I do like the golden brown muffins on occasion.
I have seen silicon baking cups before but have not tried those for myself yet. Those will be on my wish list for Christmas.
What to Do With Dried Cranberries
I chose this recipe because I almost always have dried cranberries on hand. I am sure there are plenty of good recipes using frozen or fresh cranberries. For myself, I like to have ingredients with a long shelf life. If I can keep things on hand in my pantry, then when I crave something, I have what I need to bake it.
Dried cranberries only need to be rehydrated to be sumptuously good in this recipe. That is where the orange juice comes in. Measure your cranberries and orange juice first when you get your ingredients out. You will want to go ahead and let the cranberries begin sitting in the orange juice. Let the cranberry and orange juice mixture sit for at least ten minutes. This allows them to rehydrate and soak up the tanginess of the orange juice.
Time to Mix Things Up
Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Combine this well, ensuring all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
Now is the time to add the egg, vegetable oil, and orange zest. The orange zest says to use one tablespoon, but I used all the zest from one orange. You can do this either way. I prefer more orange flavor, so I added as much zest as one orange gave me.
Now you will stir in the cranberries and orange juice since they have been soaking for at least ten minutes.
Stir this batter well until the lumps have been worked out.
Line your muffin tin and begin filling the cups. You will want to fill the cupcake liners to about three-fourths full. This will allow them to rise and give you a lovely muffin top. I have found that an ice cream scoop works great for scooping up the batter.
A nice added touch would be to dust them with some granulated sugar.
Stick them in your preheated oven and bake for 18 – 20 minutes. You can stick a toothpick into them to ensure they are done. If they are done, the toothpick will come out clean.
Dried Cranberry Orange Muffin Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- ¾ cup orange juice
- 2 cups flour
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 large egg
- ⅓ cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
- In a small bowl, soak the dried cranberries in the orange juice for at least ten minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
- Add in the egg, vegetable oil, and orange zest. Mix well
- Add in the cranberries and orange juice. Mix well.
- Stir this well until it is smooth and any lumps are gone.
- In your muffin pan, place paper liners. Fill these liners to about 3/4 full.
- Bake for 18 - 20 minutes